Nakia
An African feminine name of Sioux origin meaning "keeper of the seeds".
Name Census estimates that about 10,088 living Americans carry the first name Nakia. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 81.3% of registrations being female. The average person named Nakia today is around 40 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Nakia births was 1974 (1,748 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Nakia. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Nakia with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
10K
~ 1 in 33,976 Americans
Peak year
1974
1,748 babies that year
Average age
40
years old
2023 SSA rank
#7,824
Tracked since 1973
Census
Nakia in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 8,276 people with the first name Nakia, which placed it at #2,801 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#2,801
National first-name rank
People counted
8.3K
8,276 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
81.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Nakia
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nakia is Black at 81.1%. The next largest groups are White (8.5%) and Two or More Races (5.0%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Nakia described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Nakia at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American81.1% · 6,708
- White8.5% · 700
- Two or more races5.0% · 417
- Hispanic or Latino3.9% · 325
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 91
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.4% · 35
Gender
Gender distribution for Nakia
Nakia leans heavily female at 81.3% of total registrations, but 2,006 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Nakia as a male name
- Ranked #9,470 in 2023
- 8 male births in 2023
- Peak: 1974 (613 births)
Nakia as a female name
- Ranked #7,824 in 2024
- 14 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1974 (1,135 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Nakia leans strongly female. 6,891 people counted with this name were female (83.4%), compared with 1,369 male bearers (16.6%).
Popularity
Nakia: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Nakia from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 4,934 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1970s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Nakia by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Nakia during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Nakias live
The SSA's state-level files cover 31 states and territories. New York, Illinois, California recorded the most babies named Nakia, while Kansas, Colorado, Delaware recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 265 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Nakia
The name Nakia is of Native American origin, specifically from the Navajo language. It is derived from the Navajo word "náákʼí," which means "wanderer" or "leader." The Navajo people are an indigenous tribe situated in the Southwestern United States, primarily in the states of Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah.
Nakia has been a popular name among Native American communities for centuries. It is believed to have first appeared in written records during the early 19th century when the Navajo people began interacting more frequently with European settlers and traders in the region.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Nakia was a Navajo warrior and leader who lived in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. He was known for his bravery and strategic military tactics during conflicts with neighboring tribes and Spanish settlers.
In the late 19th century, a notable figure named Nakia emerged as a prominent artist and potter within the Navajo Nation. Her intricate pottery designs and technical skills were widely celebrated and helped preserve traditional Navajo art forms.
Another historical figure with the name Nakia was a Navajo code talker during World War II. The code talkers played a crucial role in transmitting secret communications for the United States military, using the complex Navajo language as an unbreakable code. This individual's service and contributions to the war effort were instrumental in the Allied victory.
In the 20th century, Nakia became a more widely adopted name among various Native American tribes, as well as in mainstream American culture. One notable individual with this name was Nakia Rion, a celebrated author and educator who was born in 1945. Her works focused on preserving and promoting Native American literature and culture.
Another individual worth mentioning is Nakia Cocroft, a Choctaw artist and activist born in 1973. She is known for her vivid paintings that depict Native American life and traditions, as well as her advocacy for indigenous rights and environmental causes.
While the name Nakia has gained popularity across various cultures and ethnicities in modern times, its roots can be traced back to the Navajo people and their rich cultural heritage.
People
Nakia + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Nakia as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with N
Other first names starting with N with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Nakia: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Nakia?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 10,088 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Nakia going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 33,976 US residents.
Is Nakia a common name?
We classify Nakia as "Uncommon". It ranks above 97.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 10,736 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Nakia most popular?
The single biggest year for Nakia was 1974, when 1,748 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Nakia is about 40 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Nakia in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 8,276 people with the name Nakia, or 2.74 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,801 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Nakia in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Nakia?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Nakia leans strongly female. 6,891 people counted with this name were female (83.4%), compared with 1,369 male bearers (16.6%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Nakia?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nakia is Black at 81.1%. The next largest groups are White (8.5%) and Two or More Races (5.0%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Nakia most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Nakia in the 2020 Census, accounting for 81.1% (6,708 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Nakia in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Nakia a female name?
Yes, 81.3% of people registered as Nakia in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Nakia still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Nakia in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Nakia can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people have Nakia as a first name?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.